Josh Hamilton became the 16th player in major league history to hit four homers in one game Tuesday in the Texas Rangers’ 10-3 win over the Orioles at Baltimore. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Toronto Blue Jays News
TORONTO (AP) Brett Lawrie hit a walkoff home run in the ninth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers 8-7 Tuesday night. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Toronto Blue Jays News
The 2012 MLB regular season well underway. It is still a long road to October baseball but paths are already starting to take shape. The beginning of the year brings promise, and already memories have been created early in the season. At this point anything can still happen. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Toronto Blue Jays News
The Juice is back for its fifth season of fun! Stop by each weekday for an ample serving of news from the action, plus great photos, stats and video highlights.
Cody Ross — serial bat flipper: Ross went deep twice — with a two-run shot to tie the score in the seventh against Jason Marquis, and a go-ahead solo blast with two outs in the ninth against Matt Capps — to carry the Boston Red Sox past the Minnesota Twins 6-5 on Monday night. Before Alfredo Aceves got the save, Boston even coaxed Daniel Bard, who temporarily (?) was demoted to the bullpen, into getting two key outs in the eighth to suppress a Twins rally. It’s like all of Boston’s problems never existed!
Jeter playing young: Nice formula for the Yankees here: CC Sabathia allows four runs in innings, Alex Rodriguez hits a three-run homer and Derek Jeter collects four hits. After extending his hitting streak to 13 games in New York’s 7-4 victory at Texas, Jeter is batting .346 over his past 85 games going back to July 2011.
”I keep kidding him that it’s like 1999 again — three hits every day. He’s amazing,” Rodriguez said of the 37-year-old Jeter.
So … what happened in the Cubs game? The Cardinals were one strike away from beating the Cubs — no big deal, happens all of the time — when something odd happened. They lost. With closer Jason Motte on the hill, former Cardinals reserve Joe Mather lined a two-run single to give Chicago a 3-2 win at Wrigley Field . Through eight innings, Jaime Garcia had outpitched (barely) Matt Garza.
Watch the fun happen (for some, not all) in the ninth:
View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Toronto Blue Jays News
The Juice is back for its fifth season of fun! Stop by each weekday for an ample serving of news from the action, plus great photos, stats and video highlights.
Bunt of confusion : One of the toughest calls for the home plate umpire has to be, “Did the ball hit the batter after he swung at/bunted it?” play. On Sunday afternoon, Tim Welke could not tell that the pivotal bunt attempt by Alberto Gonzalez of the Texas Rangers hit the batter in the knee before bouncing into fair territory, setting into motion a go-ahead squeeze play in the 11th inning.
Tigers manager Jim Leyland protested — saying the play should have been blown dead as a foul ball — and he successfully lobbied for Welke to ask for assistance from the other umps. But none of them saw it, either. Rangers broadcaster Tom Grieve also seemed certain the ball was fair until he looked at the replay in super slow-mo a second time. So, the Rangers got away with one , beating the Tigers 3-2 to improve their record to 13-3.
Unintentional consequences sink Braves: Managers love to employ the bunt, along with the intentional walk, because it gives them something to do. But what about the players who are left to deal with the results? After Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez directed pitcher Randall Delgado to walk light-hitting John McDonald of Arizona to load the bases for pitcher Ian Kennedy in the second inning, well, you might guess what happened next. Kennedy walked on four pitches to force in a run, and Gerardo Parra followed with a grand slam into the pool area at Chase Field. Arizona hung on to win 6-4 and snap a five-game losing streak.
Lohse is the most: Kyle Lohse of the Cardinals continued his terrific start, allowing a run and six hits over seven innings in a 5-1 victory against the Pirates . Here’s the funny part: His ERA actually went up, from 0.89 to 0.99. Who misses old manager Tony La Russa and former coach Dave Duncan? Not this guy.
Damp Yankees: Mother Nature rained out three games, including the finale of Yankees-Red Sox at Fenway Park. It’s just as well, because Bobby Valentine really needed a day off .
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Quote of the Day : “You can see him start kind of moping around a little bit on the mound.” — Twins manager Ron Gardenhire on left-hander Francisco Liriano, after another rough start and a 6-2 victory for the Tampa Bay Rays.
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Photo of the Day:
View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Toronto Blue Jays News
The 2012 MLB regular season well underway. It will be a long road to October baseball but one every team and fan is excited to travel this season. The beginning of the year brings promise, as many memories will surely be created this season. At this point, anything can happen! View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Toronto Blue Jays News
The request we’re sending to bloggers of all 30 teams this spring is a simple one: What are the 10 best things about being a fan of your favorite team? What features of the franchise have you excited for opening day and what keeps you coming back year after year?
As we near the end of our little experiment, we’re glad to hear that so many of you are enjoying the ride. Up next is our old pal Benjamin Morris of Lone Star Ball .
1. Yu Darvish. We all know what happened the last time a big league club paid a huge posting fee to obtain a Japanese pitcher, but Yu Darvish is not Daisuke Matsuzaka. Dice-K put a lot of miles on his arm at ages 18 and 19 while growth plates were still developing, leading to a spate of injury-shortened seasons and becoming a disappointment in Boston.
ZIPs projects Darvish at a 125 ERA+ for 2012, which would have been good for somewhere around 3.5 – 3.8 WAR last year. Also, there’s this and this and this . Tuning in to watch Darvish throw every fifth game is going to be a treat.
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The Texas Rangers continued their impressive streak of avoiding arbitration, by signing catcher Mike Napoli to a one-year deal, according to a report. Napoli will make $9.4 million, sources told ESPNDallas.com. The Rangers, who re-signed Nelson Cruz and Elvis Andrus earlier in the… View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Toronto Blue Jays News
The Yu Darvish posting process is over and we can chalk up a big ol’ Texas-sized win for Nolan Ryan’s poker face. While most of the baseball world spent the last few days assuming that Darvish was headed for the … Continue reading → View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Toronto Blue Jays News
With work ethic to go along with massive talent, Yu Darvish will pay off where his Japanese brethren have failed. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Toronto Blue Jays News
